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From Bangkok to Bogotá, a hilarious behind-the-brochures tour of picture-perfect locales, dangerous destinations, and overrated hellholes from a guy who knows the truth about travel
Travel writer, editor, and photographer Chuck Thompson has spent more than a decade traipsing through thirty-five (and counting) countries across the globe, and he’s had enough. Enough of the half-truths demanded by magazine editors, enough of the endlessly recycled clichés regarded as good travel writing, and enough of the ugly secrets fiercely guarded by the travel industry. But mostly, he’s had enough of returning home from assignments and leaving the most interesting stories and the most provocative insights on the editing-room floor. From getting swindled in Thailand to running afoul of customs inspectors in Belarus, from defusing hostile Swedish rockers backstage in Germany to a closed-door meeting with travel execs telling him why he’s about to be fired once again, Thompson’s no-holds-barred style is refreshing, invigorating, and all those other adjectives travel writers use to describe spa vacations where the main attraction is a daily colonic.
Smile When You’re Lying takes readers on an irresistible series of adventures in Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and beyond; details the effects of globalization on the casual traveler and ponders the future of travel as we know it; and offers up a treasure trove of travel-industry secrets collected throughout a decidedly speckled career.
A rare gem: a travel book that is both funny and literate. This is a very funny, insightful, and highly literate book. It’s really not just about travel. It’s part humor, part polemic, part memoir and it is this variation of narrative that served to hold my interest from start to finish. It’s also peopled with some great characters–which gives it a depth that very few travel books have.Thompson can be savage at times, but his targets in just about every case deserve what he dishes out. For example, The Lonely Planeteers have had it coming for a long time for a level of smugnesss that borders on dementia–and Thompson gives it to ‘em good!The section on hackneyed travel writing was one of my favorite parts (“a bewitching blend of the ancient and modern”) and should be mandatory reading not just for travel writers, but for ALL writers– sort of a humorous “Politics and the English Language” for travel writing.But it’s not just venom. Other parts show a real affection for the people and places that the writer has encountered outside of the disneyfied destinations that disappoint us all.Highly recommended on any level but especially great for a long plane trip.
real travel stories Excerpts from a review I posted on my site, http://www.ramblingtraveler.com:After years of writing sugarcoated articles about his travels, Chuck Thompson is rebelling against travel’s airbrushed image with Smile When You’re Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer. His confessions include brutally honest opinions of the travel industry, tourists, and expats, all wrapped up in a reality that you won’t find in glossy travel magazines.An easy read that will keep you entertained even as it makes you think, Smile When You’re Lying is a good book for anyone who likes to travel and doesn’t get put off by some colorful language or explicit stories. If some of his rants get too negative or cynical, he does a good job of balancing them out with humorous stories. One of my favorite quotes from the book is “… a Zen-like acceptance of travel as a highly unpredictable animal is the most effective way of approaching it.” The same could be said of this book.